Creating a simple web 2.0 favicon – Tutorial
Posted on 30. May, 2007 by Sankaranand in Tutorials
Inspired with the favicon design of web 2.0 sites like Tech Crunch, Lifehacker, Technorati, etc? Well follow this simple tutorial for creating web 2.0 fav icon using Photoshop. All you need is just Adobe Photoshop software installed.
Ok let’s get started!
Open a new project in Photoshop either by navigating to File > New or just press Ctrl + N.
Now make sure the width and height its 400px so that you can get a square shaped fav icon with the background color as white.
Now select the desired background color you want to use for your fav icon by clicking set foreground color as show in the figure. Choose a nice web 2.0 color from the Color library.
After selecting the BG color to be used, in the tool box of the Photoshop select Gradient tool or just press (G).
Now below the menu bar you will get a gradient color option, which looks similar to the screenshot posted below, click it and select foreground to transparent palette.
After selecting, drag your mouse from the outermost top of the project to its extreme end via +y to –y axis and leave down to get a color background. While dragging if you seem to have white color over the bottom then press ctrl + z to re-drag and this time drag it out of the bottom extreme to make the white color disappear,
After getting desired web2.0 background for the fav icon, select the horizontal text tool from the tool box and type the first name of your website or added two different layers of text if you need two initials in your fav icon.
After typing your desired initial, select a color for the text which matches the background perfectly or your website theme. (Basically both the background and foreground should match the website theme color). But if you add two initials in the fav icon make sure you give two different colors then.
Now the next part is the optional part of adding 3-d effect. If you satisfy with the current design you can skip this step otherwise add a bevel or emboss effect to the text by right clicking the text and selecting the blending option.
That’s it now the next process is exporting the created project as jpeg image by navigating to File > Save as > and selecting jpeg as format and click save.
The exported jpeg can be easily converted to .ico favicon by visiting this website.
Please forgive me if you have expected more about the design coz I have already mentioned the title as how to design a “SIMPLE” web 2.0 icon which made my tutorial concise after all this is my first tutorial. I have uploaded the .PSD files and made available for download which you can modify according to your wish.
Last but not least, I am expecting your comments and suggestions…
Download: Sample 1 | Sample 2 | Sample 3 (PSD Format).
[update]: Sample 2,3 are live at Technical Blog & BlogTalkz please don’t inherit the same design.
Srinivasan Paul Joseph
May 30th, 2007
I would never suggest Photoshop for creating icons. It’s good that you can design it very well using Photoshop. But there are cool softwares like Icon Cool Studio which lets you do a loads of stuff directly into an Icon (so, you don’t need to save as JPEG and then convert it to an icon). It allows you to modify any icons also.
One greatest thing about Icon Editors is that they allows you to work on Transparent Icons which is NOT possible using Photoshop. I like transparent icons very much and I use Icon Cool Studio the max for creating them.
Just a suggestion my friend…
Sankar Anand
May 30th, 2007
well transparent icons are cool but when added as Fav-icons they wont be that visible in browser nicely. For other icons transparent thing is cool.. Thanks for your suggestion
Thilak
May 31st, 2007
I agree with Srinivasan, but there is a freely available photoshop plugin which lets you save your creations as .ico
Shankar Ganesh
May 31st, 2007
This tutorial is cool. I’m gonna try it out. Thanks, Sankar.
Speed Linking #2
May 31st, 2007
[...] Sankar gives a quick tutorial on making a cool web 2.0 favicon. [...]
Sankar Anand
May 31st, 2007
@Thilak & Srinivasan
Cheer Up guys, The real catch of this post is not about creating a .ico type of file but about the design contained in it.. I have posted about creating a custom design which anyway requires an alternative software as you guys suggested to export it as icon or add special effects… i have not posted about how to export in .ico but tutorial on designing the fav icon thats it..
TechZilo
May 31st, 2007
Thanks for the tip…..
I was looking for a way to create 3D effects to buttons, and got it now!
Btw, you might want to check the spelling of links in footer.
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Hariharan
Jul 30th, 2007
Well done sir i admire ur website i have created one personal website i needed a favouite icon.
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unrealwonder
Mar 29th, 2009
Good Article, I guess Adobe Illustrator is a great tool, I will prefer to use it any day.
website design nyc
May 19th, 2009
cool post
your post is helpful and informative
TedGr
Jun 17th, 2009
You could solve the problem of conversion to .ico by installing GIMP. Its free, of course!
Free Farm-Fresh Web Icons
Oct 7th, 2009
This tutorial is exactly what I need.I impressed you stuck it out.
eric
Oct 20th, 2009
Thanks for the follow! I also have my own website. Come visit me at
more template Click quick
Vicky
Apr 8th, 2010
thanks for the guide! I got my own favicon for my blog nao
vangelderdesign
Jul 16th, 2011
I appreciate your time on this. Thanx for sharing.
casino en ligne
Jul 28th, 2011
Thanks a lot for sharing this tutorial